Star Tech Journal

STAR*TECH JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 1984
-STAR~
IECH'1(
JOU
The Technical Monthly
for the Amusements Industry
P.O. Box 1065
Merchantville, NJ 08109
609/662-3432
FEBRUARY 1984
VOLUME 5, NO. 12
Publisher/Editor
James Galore
Administrative Assistant
L.T. DiRenzo
Art/ Advertising Coordinator
Paul Ehlinger
Circulation Promotion
Linda Geseking
Layout
Dale Meloni Graphics
Contributing
Technical Writers
Mark "Bear'' Attebery
Todd Erickson
Don Becker
Sam Cross
Bill Johnston
Duane Erby
STAR*TECH JOURNAL, February
1984, Vol. 5, No. 12. Copyright
1984 by StarHech Journal, Inc. All
rights reserved. Address inquiries
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3
* * ATARI
POLE POSITION HARNESS & FUSE HOLDER PROBLEMS
MYLSTAR M.A.C.H. 3 INTERPRETING LOCATION FIGURES AND
EASY-PLAY PROGRAM CHANGE
By Todd Erickson, Summit Amusement, St. Paul, MN
ATARI POLE POSITION HARNESS
BREAKAGE
As Pole Position continues to be a strong
earner even after its one year anniversary,
the new Pole Position II kit will insure at
least another year of excellent income. The
custom chip problems have been resolved.
The accelerator with the potentiometers, I
feel, can never be made to work reliably.
One spring working against the other is not
the way it should have been designed. The
SK pot cable drive should have the load
directly over the pot bearing. Fortunately,
the microswitch conversion has replaced
many of these assemblies in the field. The
shifter should have the detent pin replaced
for a red one like on the earlier games.
Broken wires will always be a problem on
the shifters and gas pedals. When a wire
breaks, soldering the wire to the switch will
cause it to break sooner. The connector
Atari uses relies on the wire insulation for
strength. Splicing a heavier wire to the
control will help. This problem has been
with Atari for many years. It was most
series with Drag Race. Back then, I would
make a sub-harness of heavy wire. I would
also make a complete loop with the ground.
This completely eliminated the problem. A
new wire was used starting with Star Wars.
Many of these types of problems exist today
because the operator is too busy and/or lazy
to fill out the card that comes with the game,
or call Frank Becker or Dari Davidson
(Atari field/customer service managers). The
money operators have lost on broken wires
at $25 plus per service call is substantial.
FUSE HOLDER BURNOUT
As the Pole Positions age, another problem
is arising. On the transformer assembly there
is a 25 amp fuse. I have a few
generalizations concerning things that
normally don't work and one of them is a
20-amp fuse. We can all remember the 20-
amp fuse used by the pinball manufacturers
for general illumination. The fuse holders are
rated for 20 amps, but the bottom line is that
they don't work. With Atari' s application,
the problem is compounded by the use of a
plastic Amp connector going to the fuse
holder. The fuses/ holders are destroyed by
heat. The heat developed is equal to
resistance times the square of the current
This means that 20 amps through the same
resistance as 10 amps will develop 4 times
the heat. 25 amps will develop 6¼ times the
heat as 10 amps. (The Williams fuse holder
would melt the solder out of the PCB of the
20 amp fuse holder!) If your car doesn't
start because of a dirty battery post, the post
will be warm when current is applied. Wire
size is also important when conducting 20
plus amps. The wire can also generate heat,
causing fuse failure. The amount of current
that the fuse holder can conduct is
proportional to the surface area. When the
holder is new. there is little resistance. As
heat develops, the holder oxidizes and the
resistance goes up. This cycle continues
until there is a failure. (There is a warning
signal built into the game. The Amp plug
going to the fuse holder will start turning
brown!) Any plug or edge connector that is
running hot will be a problem in time. This
same problem has started to happen with
other Atari games, but to a much lesser
degree. There is no one right answer to the
problem. I feel both wires to the 25-amp
fuse holder should be soldered instead of
connected. The holder should be replaced on
older games, if there is any sign of burning. I
have one game with an inline fuse holder. A
good circuit breaker would also work.
MYLSTAR M.A.C.H. 3 INTERPRETING
LOCATION FIGURES
As of now, this has to be the strongest game
on the street today. Initial earnings are super.
My experience is that earnings do drop dras-
tically, however, after the first 4 to 8 weeks.
Initial earnings show that it is a tremendous
game. Fortunately, the bookkeeping has
game times broken down in 30-second
intervals. This system was first published in
Starlt-Tech Journal before any game
incorporated it. Learning to use it will take a
little time. No manufacturer can tell how
well their game will be accepted. They
cannot tune the game for all locations.
Mylstar did the right thing by having it too
difficult rather than too easy. Since a lot of
games are on the street now, it is necessary
to make the game play longer.
Game statistics are as follows on my
upright game:
GAME TIME
GAME SCORE
0- 30 sec.
5
30- 60 sec. 201
60- 90 sec. 96
90-120 sec. 50 Bonus
Life
120-150 sec. 27
-180 sec. 14
lOK
-210 sec.
5
-240 sec.
4
-280 sec.
4 40K
-320 sec. 12
-360 sec.
4
-400 sec.
1
-440 sec.
3
0- 3K 23
- BK 265
-13K 197
-25K 289
-35K 45
-SOK 40
-75K 24
-lO0K 17
-125K 26
-150K 10
-175K
1
-200K
3
-300K
1
Average time= 86 seconds. (Low 29
seconds, high 446 seconds.)
Many things can be determined from
these figures. I don't feel games should have
bonus levels that are impossible to obtain. It
would be useful to know how many people
exceeded each bonus level (i.e., lOK-301 ,
40K-21). The game score levels
should be part of the increment that is used.
The raw numbers are useful, but a
percentage figure would be easier to use. A
graph would be advantageous. I don't feel
games should run under 60 seconds. There
should be an adjustment so the game will
keep adding lives to 60 seconds. Telling the
player that they need extra practice would
be a nice way to do it.
Many more games in the future by most
of the manufacturers are going to need
adjustment for the operator to get maximum
income for each location.
EASY-PLAY PROGRAM CHANGE
Mylstar has an easier set of program chips
available for the first run of sit down games.
Contact your distributor for information. All
later games have this update installed